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Resistance to ETDs in Academe: Diffusion of Innovation Jude Edminster Bowling Green State University

Resistance to ETDs in Academe: Diffusion of Innovation Jude Edminster Bowling Green State University. Presentation Preview. Diffusion of Innovation Theory Relative Advantages of ETDs Compatibility with academic community norms and values Complexity, Trialability, and Observability of ETDs

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Resistance to ETDs in Academe: Diffusion of Innovation Jude Edminster Bowling Green State University

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  1. Resistance to ETDs in Academe: Diffusion of Innovation Jude Edminster Bowling Green State University

  2. Presentation Preview • Diffusion of Innovation Theory • Relative Advantages of ETDs • Compatibility with academic community norms and values • Complexity, Trialability, and Observability of ETDs • News from the Front

  3. Diffusion of Innovation Theory • Diffusion: the process by which innovation is communicated through • particular channels • over time • within a particular social system • Diffusion is social change

  4. Characteristics of Innovation • Relative Advantage • Compatibility • Complexity • Trialability • Observability

  5. Characteristics of ETDs created in PDF • Most are identical to print. • Only a few contain links, color, or computer generated graphics. • Hierarchical and linear information structure prevails. • Alphabetic text retains centrality.

  6. Relative Advantages of PDF • Amplified access (when unrestricted) • Boon to developing countries • Early notoriety for authors • Less space required for archiving • More timely cataloguing • Earlier availability

  7. Characteristics of ETDs created in HTML • Comprises multisequential units of alphabetic text, visual information, sound, other data • Articulates all data by electronic links • Reveals the network of scholarly texts that underlie the dissertation • Accomodates a de-centered text

  8. Relative Advantages of HTML • Allows researchers to organize information according to their own needs • Facilitates a cyclical, organic, intuitive research process • Radiates linked texts so as to place information in a broader context • Reveals multiple connections among theories, facts, investigations and disciplines

  9. Relative Advantages of HTML • Engages readers on multiple cognitive levels • Encourages the meaning-making process of synaeshthesia • Promotes greater cognitive activity

  10. Compatibility with Academic Social System • The social structure of academe affects the diffusion of ETDs in several ways: • Social system values and norms • Position of change agents within the system • Formal and interpersonal communication structure • Consequences of innovation to the operation of the system

  11. Academic Social SystemNorms and Values • Representation of dissertation research as alphabetic text • Promotion of hierarchical faculty/student relationships • Maintenance of a community of learning and cooperation • Maintenance of a community of power and competition

  12. Complexity • Students require special training to write ETDs that contain non-textual elements. • Faculty require special training to evaluate ETDs that contain non-textual elements.

  13. Trialability • The use of pilot projects to develop and test new procedures required by ETD adoption: • Graduate school document processing • Library document processing and archiving • Student and faculty training programs

  14. Observability • Viewable digital collections of ETDs online • Multiple language searching capability • Increased viewing of international research

  15. Conclusion • Marketing ETDs to academic audiences requires: • An understanding of the diffusion process • Further research in identifying individuals and groups who possess the characteristics of early adopters • Successful location of support pockets within the university community

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